TOKYO (dpa-AFX) - The Bank of Japan maintained its policy rates on Thursday but it signaled further monetary easing going forward.
The central bank said short and long-term interest rates are expected to remain at their current or lower levels as long as it is necessary to achieve its price stability target.
The Policy Board of the BoJ voted 7-2 to maintain interest rate at -0.1 percent on current accounts that financial institutions maintain at the bank.
The bank said it will purchase government bonds so that the yield of 10-year JGBs will remain at around zero percent.
The bank also downgraded its inflation and real growth projections. Inflation outlook for fiscal 2020 was lowered to 1.1 percent from 1.3 percent and that for fiscal 2021 was reduced to 1.5 percent from 1.6 percent.
Real GDP is forecast to grow 0.7 percent in fiscal 2020, down from the previous projection of 0.9 percent. Likewise, the outlook for fiscal 2021 was trimmed to 1 percent from 1.1 percent.
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